Christmas is coming

The Christmas season maybe be well and truly upon us but there are only a few signs of it in our home. The most obvious is our modest 4ft tree with decorations and gifts. Well, it does the trick.

Then there is Hannah's highly detailed 3D advent calendar from Grandma & Grandpa. Hannah has been attending to it with devout religiousity each evening!








We don't have any Christmas lights. Call it paranoia over a 3 1/2 year old tearing round the apartment if you will…

But even without lights, we intend to enjoy our celebration of the coming of the True Light into the world. We hope you will, too.

Merry Christmas!




Chris, Cindy & Hannah.

Hannah's first SMS

Ready for it?


,,--,::::~::


Yep, she typed it all by herself. I promise I didn't even help with the tilda.

Not impressed? Well, I suppose what was rather surprising was that she managed to send it from Mummy's phone to Daddy's phone.

Is this just a foretaste of runaway phone bills? Anyone actually experiencing that yet?

Things you can do…

…with an iPhone.

Astonishing.

Well, let me take this opportunity to post a pic on my phone of Hannah in our pool.






After an exciting trip to the beach in PD a couple of weeks ago, Hannah decided she really DID like swimming. Since then, she's been splashing, floating, ducking, kicking and drowning (her word) like nobody's business. Great!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What is preaching?

I am preaching (on Joel) this coming Sunday. In my recent sermon preparation, I have intermittently stopped and asked myself "What exactly am I being asked to do when I stand up and preach in church?" Admittedly, I haven't come to a wholly satisfying answer just yet. But one preacher who consistently inspires me, John Piper, has these words to say about "What is preaching?" and I find them refreshing.

I would love others to watch what he has to say and add a comment on this issue. I still feel I have a lot of unanswered questions and maybe you do too.

In an English country garden...

Our holiday (well, it was a holiday for 2 of us, and study leave for 1 of us) in England seems quite a long time ago now (actually we've been back less than a month), but it will take much longer for Hannah to forget about the joys of having a garden.

The neighbour's spare paddling pool made an appearance on particularly hot days, while Dad's tent was a permanent fixture in the middle of the garden.

It wasn't all fun and games. Hannah insisted on doing some gardening - sweeping leaves and watering the flowers.

And then there was the scooter. It took Hannah practically the whole 4 week holiday to get the hang of this, but eventually she did. And it is still in Grandma & Grandpa's house waiting for our next visit.

At the zoo again!

What do you do when your school is closed because of H1N1? Go to the zoo!



On monday morning, the first day of my week off work at BC, I drove Hannah to school to be greeted by masked teachers giving out letters explaining that the school was shut for a week due to a child having H1N1. Time to rethink my week off.

Well, by Wednesday I managed to muster the energy to get Hannah and myself to Zoo Negara for a morning of animal magic. It didn't seem very long since our last trip here, but it was well over a year ago. That time, Hannah called everything "cows" and "ducks". This time her vocabulary was very much expanded. But she was still only really keen to see a select few animals: giraffes, lions, tigers and flamigos. Go figure...

When all is said and done, it was a fun morning out and Hannah was tired enough to take her nap without a fuss when we got home. Well worth the effort, I say.

A Smashing Weekend

"Let's keep it simple."

Or at least that was the plan. Afterall, how complicated can a 3-year-old's birthday celebrations be? To the uninitiated, NOTHING about a child can ever be simple.

So, Hannah's birthday celebrations started on Friday, when Mummy + doting grandparents made a special appearance during her scheduled break.

Not only did we meet the "naughty boys" Hannah kept talking about, we also gave a little extra attention to the poor new kid that Hannah reportedly bullied.

There was also a particular young man I wanted to meet - someone who apparently meets Hannah at the door each morning and carries her bag into class!

What was planned to be a short half-hour treat turned into an hour's nightmare. Multiply a 3-year-old's hyperactiveness by 13, with dripping ice-cream, messy creamy cake and spilling Ribena, we were profusely apologising to the teachers by the end of the session.

Po Po and I spent most of the time catching drips, washing little hands and wiping up cream from the floor. It was utter chaos. Hannah lost her spoon (can you blame her?) and ended up in a heated argument with her arch rival. Someone vomitted.

Somehow we survived, thanks to the skilled competence of the teachers who managed to smile and look cheerful through it all. The children probably enjoyed themselves, but we vowed never to do this again...


Fast forward to Saturday - Hannah's birthday party! ... the second one.

Hannah managed to catch an afternoon nap despite the excitement of having all the family over for her birthday party. She was up and about by 5pm, all dressed up and anticipating the arrival of her guests.

Unfortunately, a series of road blocks in town meant that ALL her guests were late, leaving us to answer repeated questions of "Where's Po Po? Where's Gong Gong?"

When they did arrive though, Hannah had a splendid time, staying up way past her normal bedtime. More pictures on our web album...

Possibly her favourite new toy, a shopping trolley!

Tesco seem to be the only hypermart around with little trolleys for children to push around, so it was a no-brainer to get Hannah the toy version of "Tesco toy shopping trolley and playfood".

Predictably, it is now her #1 toy.

By Sunday, energy levels were running low.

Somehow we managed a full morning in church and a quick dash to Midvalley for some errands before having a nice long nap at home. Hannah's birthday weekend was then wrapped up with a bit of quiet activity (although Hannah's never really quiet) and a quick dip in the pool.

Happy 3rd Birthday sweetie!

The latest signs of growing up

Above is a collage of images representing what Hannah has overcome in the last couple of months. We are very proud parents of an almost-three-year-old girl.

1. She stopped wearing diapers quite a long time ago, and we took the bold step (actually, she was the one that took the step, insisting that she didn't want them) of not giving her nighttime diapers about a month ago. Only two wet beds since then. (Hey, nobody's perfect.)

2. Rather suddenly, she decided medicine was all right. Following a nasty cold Cindy started Hannah on anti-biotics. The medicine was pink and sweet but it took a colossal battle to get her to even let it touch her lips. But when she did, she just totally changed. Since then, she has had about three other medications (don't ask...), and even cod liver oil, without making the slightest fuss. On the contrary, she even gets excited by the word "medicine"!

3. We were telling Hannah that when she was three years old, she would have to stop using a pacifier (she only used it at night, but it was part of a highly rehearsed bedtime pattern). But when she nearly bit the tops off three pacifiers, we decided enough was enough. So no more pacifiers, and she doesn't seem to miss them. Having been repeatedly warned about soon not using, I think she was mentally prepared for this.

4. Another part of Hannah's bedtime routine was listening to a CD of lullabies. The same CD night after night for more than two years. Then suddenly she told us not to turn the music on. So it stopped about three months ago, and we have probably saved a few ringgit in electricity since then.

It certainly feels like our girl is growing up. I would like to say she is leaving the "terrible twos", but that would be wishful thinking. But who knows. Our next blog may well herald that next milestone.

Stubbornness...

...is usually infuriating, but can sometimes lead to hilarity.

Take Hannah's antics this evening. At dinner, Hannah got very grumpy and refused to eat. And then started to scream. And then threw a pen at Daddy. So she was 'removed' from the dining room and taken to another room to be told off calmly. But stubbornness set in and it became a ten minute tantrum. When she finally ran out of steam (and both Daddy and Hannah were sweating by this point), Hannah managed a feeble admission of wrong-doing and an apology.

Well, that is the ugly side of stubbornness. But a couple of hours later, we were treated to the lighter side. Hannah has been going through a phase of picking out her smallest baby clothes and insisting on wearing them. That resulted in her demanding she wear her all-in-one pyjama suit to bed this evening. Mummy and Daddy were getting ready for a battle when we both decided to concede this one - and if hannah COULD squeeze into her old pyjamas then she could wear them to bed (and probably suffer, but, hey, it would be her choice.)

Judge from the photo just how tight her pyjamas were:

'Ouch' indeed. But it made Hannah happy. Happy enough to do some dramatic poses for us.

Oh, Hannah. We suffer terribly from your stubbornness. But once in a while, it puts a genuine smile on our faces!

Love Affairs

Cliche as it may sound, we often appreciate what we have only when it's gone.

In our case, it's precious s p a c e

So, in anticipation of our loss, we had to snap a few pictures to remind us what it was...

... and what it is now!

Music has always been a love of my life and an utterly inseparable companion as I was growing up. Be it playing instruments, singing, dancing and even acting in musical productions, music always featured prominently and probably provided the necessary balance to the seemingly relentless academic pursuits we were subjected to.

So, it is with great joy that I announce my reunion to an old friend...

Now, the task at hand is to find all my old books (including a set of Bach's Preludes and Fugues I was meant to work through; doubt I can do that now) and ensuring Hannah doesn't destroy the piano before she is old enough for lessons.

Hannah, on the other hand, has other interests at heart.

Having both inherited a little bit of Po Po's blood in our veins, mother and daughter have discovered the joys of baking! Specifically, cupcakes.

For all her hyperactivity, Hannah manages to spend at least a couple of minutes each time in front of the oven inspecting her work of art evolve into something yummy.

Life has certainly become more interesting.

Debut

6th April 2009

It has been an eventful week.

We've sworn in a new Prime Minister in Malaysia, rained out the F1 race yesterday, witnessed the unveiling of a 100-million-ringgit dress in KL and nursed Hannah through yet another bout of flu.

As exciting as the local political arena might be, surely nothing beats being summoned to Hannah's school once again - this time for a concert!

While we were curious to know how Hannah's first term school fees were utilised, we felt it was a little early to assess the progress of such young toddlers, much less expect them to bloom into confident performers in less than 3 months.

Nonetheless, we were keen to see Hannah's arm-biter in the flesh.

It was the center's "Fliptec@Q" celebration, a demonstration of the multimedia teaching tool used by their centers nation-wide. Children between the ages of 2 to 6 presented a variety of action songs and displayed their reading and mathematical skills.

Rightfully introduced as the babies of the school, this little bunch of toddlers did not disappoint the appreciative audience. Amidst the "media frenzy" created by excited camera-wielding parents, the young performers stood their ground and presented not one but three songs in two languages!

Alright. Some were outrightly stunned and stood staring ahead blankly, while some found the large screen projector behind them much more interesting than the crazy adults. As for Hannah, we'll let the video do the talking:

One of the highlights had to be the way the children filed in and out of the room. It's pretty hard to imagine our stubborn, strong-willed little girl following instructions and being an obedient student. But there you go, the evidence is undeniable.

Not only did we catch a glimpse of Hannah's "attacker" - a surprisingly meek little thing - we also managed to meet with Hannah's best friend, Mei Qi.

So perhaps this little girl is learning something in school after all and we'll make a performer of her yet.

You know Hannah's started going to "school" when...

... She starts parading in front of the mirror in her "gym" kit in anticipation of the actual session

This was taken during the weekend, and till now the kit remains ridiculously loose, all in the name of economics.

... She comes home with a bite mark on her forearm

It was a shame Hannah wouldn't keep still for a clearer picture, but trust me on this one - if you were a dentist, you could probably jot down a complete set of dental records for the offender.

How do you react to something like this?

While the initial reaction was to be angry at the little child, Hannah was so unaffected by the incident that it seemed funny. Since Hannah had forgiven her friend, it seemed right to do the same.

... She talks about birthday parties, drinking Ribena and eating cakes

So much for parent-instilled discipline of no refined foods and only "natural" flavoured food (well, as far as possible). Hannah now enjoys the world of chocolate, sweets and all manner of hyperactive-inducing snacks, courtesy of her friends, their parents and her teachers.

... She gets a string of viral infections, one after another

and may I add, passes it on to her parents and grandparents. While we can only remember one or two episodes of vague illnesses in her first two years, we have already lost count of the number of flu bugs Hannah has caught from school. As they say, a necessary rite of passage.

... Her parents are summoned to school for a "Parent-Teacher Session"

Thankfully, all her teacher said was "She's a keen learner, but stubborn at times". Well, in many more words, but that was the gist of it. Nothing we didn't already know though.

Pictures with stories

I'm not going to make excuses for the lack of blog posts, but just get on with telling a couple of stories.

This picture was taken at Cindy's parents' place. It was the first day of Chinese New Year (Jan 26th) and we had managed to coax Hannah into a rather elegant Chiong Sam. During the day we heard the "Bong Bong Chang!" of a lion dance. Hannah rushed tot he window in the vain hope of seeing her first ever lion dance - and managed to spot it through trees, across a main road, in someone's front yard! From that day on, Hannah has been talking about lion dances. She got to see one up close when we were having lunch in Midvalley a few days later - but it was almost too close. It is a very noisy performance with all the drumming, and probably a bit much for a 2 1/2 year-old.

This is Hannah in our apartment's swimming pool. Admittedly, we get in it rather infrequently (a couple of times a month?). And probably for that reason Hannah is quite anxious every time we take her to the pool. But once she is in there, she doesn't want to get out. A familiar experience where kids are concerned, I suspect. Anyway, she is in her new blue swimming outfit bought especially for pre-school (which she started in January - 3 hours a day). She actually has a swimming lesson once a week... but since she always comes home with a dry swimming costume we can only assume she doesn't take the plunge!

Any tips for getting our kid to swim like a fish?