Bye-bye Chill SEAT, hello Qashqai +2

We had to bid farewell to Richard's faithful SEAT Ibiza Chill after nearly 13 years of service end of December last year.  We had a new Christmas present of a 7 seater!!  So far, we love our new car.  It is by no mean luxurious, but it does have all the essentials that makes life easier.  Maybe we need to wait for the kids to grow up before we get our luxury car :)

Caitlin - 10 months old

It's Monday tomorrow and I am dreading sending you to nursery.  On your first proper day last week, you cried the moment I passed you over and I got a phone call 4 hours later to be informed that you refused to eat or drink anything.  So, that day and the day after, you were on food and drink strike the whole time you were there (thank God it was only for about 5 hours).  You did manage a nap though, although I think it's because you cried so much that you tire yourself to sleep.  Oh dear, what will tomorrow bring?  I am sure you will cry, but will you try eat and drink something?  Please Lord, help her settle.

On a happier note,
- You now recognise and will do actions to the song 'wind the bobbin up' and 'if you're happy and you know it'.  Your dada thought you were 'washing your hands' when you were trying to 'wind the bobbin' :)
- Can sit from a crawling position, and pulling yourself to standing from a sitting position (NEED to lower your cot - been meaning to do it for 2 weeks now).
- Answer to your name being called and understands bye-bye and hello, although they are both the same action of hand waving :)
- Are quite 'chatty', including calling out 'dadadadadada' and 'ah Maaaa!!!', although am still not sure if you are specifically calling daddy and mummy yet.
You're a 'homey' like your 'koko' as you're super happy when at home and it's such joy to see you laugh and play.  I took out another set of Isaac's toys eg: shape sorters, walkers, hammering toys, and both you and Isaac went ecstatic over them.  So far, you prove to be 'daddy's girl' as you would cry if Richard doesn't pick you up when he comes back from work (or maybe you're just bored of me?).  After picking you, you won't let go of him and will want to be carried by him all the time.

You are nowhere near sleeping through the night and since starting nursery, been waking up hourly to 2 hourly.  I previously mentioned that you were strong-willed but I think I see a 'hot temper' too as you would scream till my ears resonate when you don't like something.  Now I see where the screaming for hours when you were a baby came from.  Richard jokingly mentioned, do we need to discipline you from now? ;)

Isaac learning about life?

The most time consuming thing about blogging is the editing of photos, videos and than uploading them, and hence I sometimes don't blog because there isn't enough time to choose, edit and upload photos.  But, there's so much that goes through my head that I need to write down before they are forgotten, especially things Isaac say and updates about Isaac and Caitlin's life.  So, my strategy is now to post all that I want to write first and sort out all the photos when there's time on my side (definitely before I go back to work).

So, before I forget, these happened in school the last week.

I was pulled aside by his teacher when I picked him up and I know it must be something serious as there's hardly any report apart from during parents/teacher meetings.  I was told there was an incident and Isaac was slapped in the face by his friend and then went on to explain the whole situation and how they dealt with it etc.  The exact account was retold by Isaac the moment I saw him.
Isaac:  Mummy, I got smacked today by 'E'.
Me:  Oh dear.. What happened?  
Isaac:  I was the dinosaur and was chasing everybody and suddenly she came and smacked me in the face.  Miss J then asked her to say sorry but she couldn't coz she was crying.
Me:  Did you say never mind it was OK?
Isaac:  No, because it was NOT an accident and we were both crying.  But I was good and didn't smack her back
And we continued talking about importance about forgiving etc..  But that is the first time he got slapped.

On the way back from school
Me:  Isaac, I met 'T's' mom today.  Do you play with him?
Isaac:  No, because he pulls 'J's' hair all the time and I'm 'J's' friend and so I'm not 'T's' friend and don't play with 'T'.
Wow.. are they learning about 'brotherhood' from such a young age?

Isaac always has a snack after school.  So, on the way back in the car one day
Me:  Isaac, guess what I got you for snack today?
Isaac:  I don't know?
Me:  It's round, and sweet, and you love it.
Isaac:  Pancakes?
Me:  No, you eat it a lot of the time and it comes in a box and there's chocolate on top
Isaac:  I don't know?
Me:  Doughnuts!!
Isaac:  Mummy, you should have said round with a hole in the middle, then I will know it's doughnuts!! 
Me thinking hmm... that's true :)

We were again reading about dinosaurs (still your craze now) one night
Me:  If you were to name a dinosaur, what would it be?
Isaac:  Easynamosaur!!
What a classic answer!!

Out of the blue,
Isaac:  Mummy, you will look prettier in a dress
Me stunned and wonders where he gets that idea from?

I took out all your old toys again and you have been playing with them everyday since
Isaac:  Mummy, PLEASE don't give away any of my old toys!!!  I love them!!!

Your favourite come back answer now seem to be 'I'm not sure, but I think......'

Caitlin's first day in nursery

Boy oh boy!! We were both traumatised overall.  Actually your first trial session was not too bad coz you were distracted and cried only for the last half hour when you were tired.  However, in your 2nd two hour trial session yesterday, you cried the moment I handed you over and continued to cry for the whole 2 hours thereafter.  Your face when I picked you up was sooooo pitiful and my heart broke.  Tears were streaming down your red eyes and snot was running down your nose.  Apparently, you cried harder everytime the door to the nursery opened (I suppose you were hoping to see me).  It didn't help that that night, I went out for the first time and left Richard to take care of you both.  It was another session of crying your eyes out at night.  Poor you..... I wished I had timed things better.

To be honest, I have been telling friends that Isaac did not shed a tear while Caitlin, you bawled your eyes out.  But actually, on reading the blog, Isaac, you did cry for the first trial session too!!  BUT, that was it and you settled in immediately thereafter.  Caitlin, I really pray and hope that you will not go into a frenzy again when you start your first full day on Monday.  I suppose there's more adjustment for Caitlin as she's older and more aware of her surroundings, is getting weaned off the breast and have to switch to the bottle, and will only be in nursery for 2 days a week rather than all 5.  Caitlin, please also do take the bottle and settle in well.

Viral bazooka revisited

I kinda forgot how terrible it is to feel sick with your whole body aching and head pounding, AND yet have to take care of kids, who are ill too!!  I think this is the first time all 4 of us were 'hit' badly.  The strongest of all was...  ISAAC!!  He recovered within a day, while the rest of us were still running fevers and felt 'fluey'.  I wonder if it was the immunity from the numerous viruses he must have had before, or the benefits of the flu vaccine he had this winter? (thanks mummy for being so observant in the GP surgery ;))  Anyhow, thank God we are all on the amend now.  I am so not looking forward to the days when Caitlin starts nursery and bringing back the bazooka viruses, spreading it to us all  (reading back through posts, it was wave after wave of sickness :( )

Play time

I really thank God that both Isaac and Caitlin appear to adore and love each other.  Of course there are times when Isaac gets a little jealous and wants a little more attention, but overall, he's a very understanding koko, and does all sorts of silly antics to amuse his sister ;)  I love it that Caitlin will happily play in the living room when Isaac's around.

Isaac - 4 years 3 months

The day finally came when you turned 4 years old - on the plane journey back to Malaysia!!  You must have been the happiest boy when you told everybody 'I'm 4 years old!!'  You actually ask about when you'll be turning 5.  Why do you want to grow up so fast?  There were a few celebrations.  It started with your birthday party in Farmer Teds, then the air stewards from both legs of the plane journey 'created' 2 cakes for you, and then parties when arrived in Malaysia.  How lucky you are!!

About 6 months ago you started a love for dinosaurs, which became a craze, and lasted much longer than we expected.  Now, you can name all sorts of dinosaurs, have many books (including an encyclopedia) on dinosaurs, shirts and dinosaurs and a collection of dinosaur figurines which you play with all the time.  You are still very much into it now and wanted a 'lizarosaurus' for Christmas :)  Richard then arranged a 'dads and lads' movie outing with another 2 friends to watch 'Walking with Dinosaurs' which you loved!!

With 'lizarosaurus (saurophaganax)' which you named 'lizzy'. You got a scleral laceration from its tail on Christmas day itself

Caught you lining your dinosaurs up for a race

We started your swimming lessons in summer and you love it!!  Thankfully you can write quite well now.  Something clicked about a month ago and you could suddenly hold a pen well, control it and write.  Before that, you distaste even holding a pen and I got worried about how slow you were in learning to write (reminds me of the time when I was worried about you being slow in learning to speak ;)).  You have also started reading and is quite confident with 3 and some 4 letter words.  You also add and subtract within 10 well and starting to do within 20 now.  It really helped when popo and gong gong were here as they encouraged you to learn and do things sooo much!!  I need to keep that up :)

As you grow older, I sometimes forget that your life (school, friends, routine) is here in Liverpool and this is your home.  I planned the 6 weeks holiday letting this slip my mind.  After a few weeks, you kept asking to go home to Liverpool because you missed everything about Liverpool.  It did not help that Richard came back to Liverpool after 3 weeks and you missed him terribly.  Not that there's a chance for another long holiday like that, but I have to bear this in mind.

There was also your first school Christmas play.  You came home everyday singing the songs about about a month till I too was humming them in my head.  They were really catchy and nice.  I smile at how you 'fit' in some of the words though and when I correct you, you say but this is what Miss 'J' say it is!!  For example, you kept singing 'wriggly activity' and I say it's 'wriggly Nativity'.  You were a star (as you were in nursery class) who sparkled and danced very well and I'm so proud of you!!  

This was your 2nd church performance and you were much better this year compared to last :) You held up the word 'Ho' very high up and for a long time.  Your arms must have been aching!!

There's so much to write about you as you entertain, amuse and surprise us almost everyday!!  Talking with you is so interesting and I can only imagine it getting more and more fun :)