Day 2 1May Phuket Trip

We got a travel package to Phi-phi island from Charlie at 1500baht each, while Jared is considered infant-free!

Took a quick breakfast and went to wait for the transport to Phiphi island, at 7.45am. After a long ride to the harbour, there was lot of ppl waiting to go Phiphi..

Being the 2nd boat of the day, we arrived Maya island quite early before the crowd...Maya beach which was small, but is very very beautiful with its white sand and blue water..I just cant wait to dip into water when I'm there..but Jared as usual is so scared of the water, so we dump him aside with all his sand toys..where he had great fun...

Daddy and me took quick dip each time, and come back to check on Jared ocasionally..and finally we convince jared to come to the water for a while..heh..
It was a 40mins stop over only...

Then we board the boat again, to viking cave, monkey island & stop for feeding fishes with bread..snorkel at the middle of the sea.

Daddy and me took turn to go down..Jared surprisingly was very excited to see us changing into snorkel gear..and very encouraging for us to do down..

After the snorkelling we went to another island phiphi don for lunch..its a very run down place and lunch was buffet style..By now Jared already very tired, and keep asking to go home..daddy shared story about the speedboat 's motor and what he see while snorkelling to keep him awake...and stuff him with more food...heh..

Finally he fall asleep when we were back on board in the 40mins ride to Khai island. But woke up again at Khai crying to go home again..and feeling uncomfortable with the heat, and his eyes..Took a while to pacify him, and finally we had to keep collecting coral to put in his dump truck to make him happy..hehe..There, again we took turn to snorkel..since we already paid for the fins..hehe..while some english guy made sand castle for jared which spike the day for him. hehe..

Khai island is only 15mins away from harbour..and we reached hotel at 5pm+...after a good wash up...we had Khantuk dinner which was complimentary from hotel..The dinner was with live traditional band performance and thai dancing..and we seemed to be the one booking the whole restaurant al the time..Phuket is really quiet at this time monsoon season plus the bangkok chaos..



Breakfast in hotel..yummy..


Maya bay..The beach

Sand play at the beautiful beach

Sight seeing on speed boat

Finally our tur to take pic on speed boat..all the while a lot of ppl keep posing

Snorkeling...Jared help to take our couple pic..so sweet of him..hehe

after lunch, at phi phi don island..tired & hot!

Reaching Khai island after 40 mins....view from speedboat, need to pay 120baht for 2 sunbed..but finally we took 3 sunbed hehe..

posing by the beach..

Khai island is famous for a lot of small fishes nearby the shore..we bought a full loave of bread to feed. Jared got frighten by the strong wave while feeding...so I brought the remaining 3/4 bread to feed while I snorkel..all the fat fishes came by ..so fun!..only 40baht the full loave of bread.

Jared with his sand castle..made by the guys from England, sitting next to us..

Rest & relax...2hrs was easy to pass...We were there from 2pm to 4pm..Drinks & fruits were free flow..by the tour operator

Complimentary dinner by hotel..the beef curry is the yummiest curry I've ever tried!

again the banana in coconut milk is superb too!

this is a very nice couple pic of me and daddy..hehe

Phuket trip pics

Phuket trip 30Apr-3May, Day 1 30Apr

This yr there's many long weekend..so wanted to avoid stoning at hm..we planned for a trip....Initially wanted to go HK, but after calculating it was way too expensive..so we settled with Phuket..though I know I may hate the sun, just go ahead, cos butt is really itching for a trip already hehe.. And surprisingly we love Phuket a lot!..

Weather was perfect, less humid & windy ..though the sun still so big and shinny! My parents & Kaylen sent us off at airport..waved byebye to kaylen was easier than I thought..hehe.. Jetstar was delayed by 20+mins..and arrived in Phuket at close to 10am..

Board into a airport to city transfer minivan...which cost us 150baht each..along the way they stop at a travel agency..but it was alright about 15mins only.. And finally checked into our small boutique hotel burasari at close to 11am+...along the way the van dropped guest a different and yet much bigger hotel especially the milenium that was attached to jungceylon mall..made us wowow... Luckily our hotel was quite alright too..so beautiful decorated and the pool though small looked so pretty with all the plants.

After left the luggage, we walked to Patong beach..about 3mins walk..I was surprised that Patong beach so quiet and quite nice looking too..though alot of ppl had commented the beach look dirty..but hey, it look fine to me! Since it was lunch time we decided to go find food..and then Charlie the taxi driver found us, and offered 300baht per day to drive us around..He brought us to ulu place for lunch...lunch was so so..then we went to Karon beach, Karon lookout, Kata beach,Elephant ride, the big buddha, and finally shopping at local product to get all the bak hu food home, upon our request. After back in hotel, we still managed to have a fast dip at hotel pool before going out to look for dinner..

Dinner was at somewhere near the OTOP market near hotel..again the market was very quiet...there, I had my best mango with glutonious rice...

p/s these are some pics i didn't upload in FB

Matching pants..daddy's camou bermuda was part of my pressie for him..got it from Cotton on ..had to get it cos its matching to Jared's CK berm. hehe


At patong beach at 12 nooon..Hot!! But very quiet..



Karon lookout

Our elephant and its trainer, coming down to pick us up..

Fun elephant ride..

close up

Feeding the poor elephant w pineapple

dipping in the hotel pool after got back fr trip

Dinner

nutella & banana pancake...so yummy

Tuk tuk outside Mariott Vacation Club

More pics on FB
Phuket trip pics

Happy Birthday Daddy 2010

Actual day 29 Apr, I've brought daddy to a new place for lunch the Vittles at nearby Yishun..which serve free flow yummiest pop corn..and he had lamb shank..very nice too..



The lamb shank...nice!




Lunch at the vittles!

Dinner we had a family celebration with at Sin Tian Ti restaurant along balestier road..and there Jared presented him an angpow written with his good wishes prepared since few wks ago..



Ang pow from Jared

Family pic taken 29 Apr

Daddy's Birthday 2010

Finally I fulfilled my all time wants..bake a cake for birthday!

I've been thinking to bake a cake for daddy or the kids birthday for so many yrs(the last bday cake was baked by daddy for his own bday on 2007, I know nuts about baking then)...and always ended too bz or no mood.

This yr, Jared has grown mature enuff to help..When I told him to quickly bath and get changed to his white clothes(baker), and finish his school work...and he followed suit.

We had a major problem when trying to setup the steamer.. Our cake tin is those that can separate the base, and we do not have a proper steamer..so water easily come into the tin!..After daddy try here & there, we managed to set it up somehow. Jared had a lot of fun seeing stones(from flour/coco powder) fall down into the mixing bowl while sieving them..and get scolded by me for trying to mess up the sifted flour..But he did a good job in mixing all the ingredients..

The recipe called for 45mins steaming..but we actually steamed for full 2hr for it to fully done..
Nevertheless, we had a nice & moist cake in the end. Since I can't do icing, so had gotten the deco sheet from Daiso, Japan...which works perfectly fine deco with some icing sugar...It made the plain black cake looks so beautiful!

Next round I shall put in some chocolate chips to make it more chocolaty..
p/s this is an advance bday...Daddy's actual bday is on coming thur where Jared gonna choose him a cake from bengawan...and then we will go to Phuket for another celebration!

Recipe

Ingredients:

Makes one 9" round



185g butter
180g fine sugar -> Reduce to 150g
200ml evaporated milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125g all-purpose flour
70g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla essence



Method:

1. Combine sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla essence and butter in a saucepan.
Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter has melted. Remove from heat.
2. Add the beaten eggs into the slightly cooled mixture and stir till well mixed.
3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs mixture over the flour and stir till well mixed. (Batter should be runny).
4. Heat up the steamer.
5. Lined and grease a 9-inch baking pan
6. Pour the batter into prepared pan and place into the steamer. Cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
7. Steam over medium heat for 45 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a skewer into the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, steam for a further 5 minutes.
8. Cool the cake in pan before turning out for further decoration.

- Reading
He has completed daddy's book for primary 1 series..now we are trying to let him start with primary 2 book 1&2.
Peter & Jane: He is at Book 3a

This series is really good, both no story line unlike daddy's book.
but it repeated use of key words like here, that, they...make him finally can remember these words.

Interestingly the most common words he, here, you, that, there, they, are the hardest to go into his mind.

The more difficult ones like cabinet, kissing, belly button, cousin, just need to repeat 2-3x he could remember it..But those in the key(sight) words..are sooo diff.
But with peter& jane, somehow his reading has improved tremendously.
However, we could not make it that he read books, cards everyday..now maybe 1-2x a wk depend on his mood..

-Writing
He has finally completed writing A to Z on the 3 line workbook...
We started him to write phonics words like
mop, top, mat, pat etc
and interestingly he suddenly know phonics..
before this no matter how you teach he got zero knowledge on phonics, and couldnt go into his mind, while daddy & mine knowledge on phonics is zero too.
i guess the school has finally done their part heheh..

-Chinese writing
Finally he could write his chinese name since last mth 4yr 4mth
When I saw him struggling with his yi4, I asked daddy if we could change it to "-" hehehe..
When I don't even know how to write his yi4, I dont really have that expectation he can write lah..but now he can write his name pretty well..

He also proceeded to write, papa mama, nai nai under waipo's guidance
Unexpectedly, his chinese handwriting is far better than english..and of cos far better than mine...

*Lazy mummy has not take a picture of his work, I shall do fast, before meimei tear his book" hah

-Violin
Still very slow, and inconsistense..
sometimes he is playing real well, sometimes he just seemed don't know violin at all..*headache & heartache(fees)*

Because of his slow development, Prof thanh has been teaching him some simples lines with no name?? and refused to teach him little einstein which is played in ensemble class.
So teaching little eintein become his daddy's job..hah.
Feel like giving up sometimes..but luckily he has not requested.

-Abacus
He is going to start abacus class again under his persist request, waipo brought him to enrol at whampoa cc..and since then he has been counting down to the day when classes starts..*faint*
I wished to send him for art class, cos till today he can never color properly...but he refused.

Kaylen is 19mth...

again w/o us realising..

Enrolled her for little step play grp..which she can only start next Mar/Apr when she turned 30mths..

and other than that she didn't go for any enrichment class...since all the bullet are spent on Jared.

But hey, i thought her developments are not bad ..from what I read from forum, those kids who attended many enrichment class...Kaylen is lucky to hv kor kor around to guide her (or she guide koko ?? ) hehe.

1) Talking
She's talking in mandarin about 4 words.
waipo bao liao (full)
bao4 bao4 shui4 jiao4 (carry to sleep)

2) singing
She can sing many many songs now...quite clear the lyrics, especially auld lang sign and a few fav cd in the car.
She can also sing ko ko violin song, DDAA.BB etc hehe.

3) Love waipo...:( more than us
She cried to insist to sleep with waipo everynite, every fri she'll definitely cry so hard not willing to go back Sembawang. Faint..wasted my effort to bf her so long.

4) possesion
Bags belonged to me, must be carried by me..Daddy cannot help to carry.
She would say "Mummy de4"

5) Hate reading
she not only hate reading books she also don't like to see others read..She'll throw away the books , step on the newspaper.

6) Loves eating outside food
when we eat out, she'll never eat her porridge..So at 19mth, she ate kfc 1 drumstick on her own!, la mian, zer chao stall food , bread talk's bak hu bread
anything the koko eat she would want a share...anything we eat too.. Faint!

Jared finally can read!!!! @4 yr 3mth

still on the super simple book though..But at least we have managed to help him overcome that phobia..When he had that phobia, even there's only 2 word on each page he will refuse to read.
These are the fruit of our 3mths effort..

Now he is on daddy's primary times book..Pri 1 Level1, 2,3.
P1 L1: The naughty little monkey
P1 L2: Bang
P1 L3: The snake

I've heard a lot of good reviews on Peter&Jane Lady Bird's Keyword series..and guess what? I grew up with these books..and I had the whole collection, but now all thrown liao :(...so i find it extremely heart pain when needed to re-purchase the set lor. Then daddy suddenly recalled that those books he had ..so we started on them instead..while waiting for my items to arrive w online purchase.

But he is still very very weak on words like they, there, you, your..when its put together he will blur..Thats why I thought peter&jane series would help quite a bit!

And regarding phonics, since we are so weak in it..we have not really teach him how..and a bit reluctance to send him for school , since right now just violin alone already make all of us so bz and tired.

On flash cards..now we are on 50% of the card, thats probaly 80-100card. I'm only showing him about 20 newer cards..and the rest of cards i try to do revision with him once a wk.
Hopefully with all these effort, we can help him overcome the phobias. and finally don't need to send him for lesson which waste $..The kids at our area went for so many tuition already..kind of kam cheong when heard..hehe.

Looking forward, we hv to start him on spelling before the school dwell them in and he get too stress up with spelling.

Happy 18mth to our lovely gal!

I recalled that we did a small celebration at hm bought a small cake for Jared's 18mth day..

but nah..nothing for Kaylen..and in fact I scolded her for playing w food during lunch..heheh


Pics taken on the way back fr lesson..finally her face is clean from all kind of bumps, scars..and she is now 9.3kg...a wk ago, when she was having the worst teething period, she was only 8.7kg then..the 3 side mollar really made her suffer so much, cry every hr at night, refused all food..mouth so sensitive if accidently touch, will cry so hard..and finally when all the 3 molar cut out..She is now the most glutton gal..eating non stop, all the forbidden cny goodies like bak kua, pineapple tart, love letters started to be her favourite food!





I heard her saying take picture when she found the camera today..also she was singing along with the car CD for so many songs already..


I'm working on the rail road, My fair lady, baba blacksheep..though the lyrics is not clear..but she followed the song pretty well


While I'm bz with work at night, she sang auld lang sign to sleep following the hp...wow..




Pics taken by waipo +/- 1-2wk prior to 18mth

Home trip 7Feb to 17Feb

Had a good home trip and its the 1st time we ever gone back for CNY. Few yrs ago each time there's something on...1st we got married and used up all the leave so could not go back on 2005 for CNY, then on 2006-Jared was only 2-3mth old too young to travel, 2007 we went back in Jan for Kun's wedding instead...2008, we booked but didnt go back as dear daddy went overseas, 2009 Kaylen borned and young..so didnt go back..finally we all go back for CNY 2010..when both kids are decently big hehe.

We went Kapit the next day after arrived. Kapit is not assessible by road, so we had to take the express boat for 3hr..Jared been there when he was 13mth old ..so he could not recall anything related to the boat ride or Kapit. There, we visited da yi and family, 2 yi & 4 yi and 2 beh and family. Kapit was jared's fav place as ying rui has so many toys.

After we came down from Kapit, we spent another night at Sibu and dinner with TingTing who just got back from Australia. Only on the 10th we finally managed to come back to Sarikei..the feeling is definitely home sweet home..I love my bridal bedroom back in Sarikei..everything belongs to us and look brand new lor hehe..

But sarikei house don't have aircon in the living room..so it get pretty warm in the day..even at night. We ate suan chai noodle, s'wak laksa, ko lo mee, kam pua mee, chao pek kue and all the local food..it has been 2 yrs since I ate these food..miss the suan chai noodle most! The food there are basically w lots of ajinomoto...for eg, to make kam pua, they used 1 teaspoon of ajinomoto lor. Managed to do some shopping, got Kaylen a pair of new shoe, Jared a white shoe for next yr at Rm24, a belt for myself and few home shorts for Jared..

For CNY reunion dinner, MIL cooked 10 dishes..we started eating at about 4pm..after finish we went to hv a car ride around in town..and I'm always hv to rush with time on the eve, to get the kids bath, and ourselves bath ...take out all the CNY goodies and arranged on table..then Kaylen would come and disturb..i don' t remember we had so much prob be4 w Jared!..Then made them sleep...and finally woke Jared up at 12am again to watch the fireworks.

The fireworks were simply beautiful..and they got so close to my head, till i find the ashes drop on my hair! Its not sold openly in the market nowadays..but still so many put fire cracker & fireworks... The next few days were spent visiting all the relatives.


Express boat to Kapit..its a 3hr journey!


Leaving Kapit..

Reunion dinner

a family pic before we start!

a matching pyjama on new yr eve

Happy CNY 2010

The siblings pics together..

Chu 2..at Da gu's place

Chu 3 woke up looking like zhu tau peng! got bitten by just a mosquito..can spread till like this! The night before while bath him, daddy realised he got a super big baluku...after we got back from 3 yi po's place...and yet we don't know how it came...super sueh of Jared

But of cos we no fret, cos with their previous experience, I knew he only needed the magic hydrocorte..hah

At aunty theresa's house for lunch at the hospital quarter..and after application of hydrocorte!

Back in Sarikei, this is how Kaylen bath everytime..she enjoyed so much!

Chu 4 at airport ..coming back to SG

Trip pics

Police

I get headache everytime Jared mentioned the word police
He yearned to be a police..so much so that when we go visiting during CNY, and go for gathering..he would go up to anybody to say, hey, I'm a police.

or I'm a fake police..

and if you asked why he wanna be police? He say cos he would have gone to shoot bad ppl..and if you say something he don't like, he would start to bang bang..
real headache.

and I tried to change his mind to be aspired to be a doctor instead..
so ocassionally he will say..Sometimes i be a police, sometimes I be a doctor ok.

Jared @ 4yr 3mth

Flash card reading
- We are now at 50words already..Yooohooo
Hmmm i bought the cards when he was only a few mths old, together with the words cards there still dots card. The dots card are completely wasteful cos I don't even know how to use them.
He is very slow when it come to reading..he got phobia himself. Good thing is now after some training, he has finally able to overcome the fears for flash cards..and its not that hard to get him to start reading the cards..or intro new cards.
But when it comes to reading books..he still say he cant all the time..

Maths
I like to do maths work book with him as it is easier to explain..and since he had some basics on abacus simple adding is not much a problem.

Writing
Nos are in general quite good, but sometimes still he might writie it slanted or the opposite way
For alphabets he is quite good with capital..but when it come to small letter there seemed so much trouble.
He could only write his name in capital letter.
We also realised he had problem writing in the 3 lines worksheet. So we had to go back to train all the alphabets again...faint!

Violin
much more a headache..*haiz*
the 1st 3 mth, he said he dunt want to practise at hm..so we let him be and do it during lesson only
after a while, I read that kids need to practise everyday..so since this Jan10..we started him on daily practise..
Still he is slower compared to other kids, and couldnt really concentrate in class..haiz.
But he can now picicato twinkle star, play The train and I'm a little monkey...Though not much consistensy..and Prof Thanh, always said not good..I can still see he is still improving just slow lor...
We just have to make him able to learn seriously during lesson and concentrate..then he will be able to progress faster. He played at hm much better than in school.

Study schedule
7.30-8pm: Violin
8.00-8.30pm- Writing alphabets
8.30-9.00pm- Worksheets (english, maths)
9.00-9.30pm-Cards (his favourites)

In the noon time, he will learn bi3 hua4 chinese from waipo..and write / read a few chinese words lor.

Happy Birthday-by Kaylen

22 Feb 2010- Kaylen 17mth 2 wks
-While trying to struggle with her growing molar pain..she still managed to sing new song
Happy to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to Jared

For her mah mah's bday over the phone!
wow this is definitely faster than Jared..Jared could only sing happy birthday close to 20mth bah.

Kaylen is 17mth

Blurr me thought she is still 16mth and told everyone during CNY that..
She's actually 17mth already..What a petite gal!

Spoken Language: She can say quite a no. of words but some can be not that clear as compared to Jared at the same time. I read that at 18mth she should be able to say 50 words, that's why I bother to record down what she could actually says now.

no
I
Bear
Cat
Mao1(cat)
nai3(milk)
gao1 (high or cat)
dog
horse
boy
star
car
ball
house
frog
duck
bird
clock
bao4(carry)
nana (banana)
cousin
mummy
daddy
ah yi
gong
mah mah
koko
meimei
egg
yu2
fish
lai2 (come)
bye
go
out (there’s 10 little one on the bed, and 1 roll of bed and say "Out")
all (the wheel on the bus go round and round, "all" through the town)
bus
moon
cow
pig
pee
kai kai (go out)
shoe, shie2
butterfly (learnt fr Jared's book during cny since no other book available)
violin
rabbit
i-cream
mum-mum (anything related to food)
o-len (for orange)

She sings a lot now..though the lyric is still not clear, but she can follow the songs pretty well. The best songs ever:
Twinkle star
shi4 shang4 zi3 you3 ma1ma1 hao3
Teeth
4 front teeth at upper deck + 1 side molar (new!)
2 front teeth at lower deck + 2 side molar just cut through (new!)

Interesting conversation with Jared @ 4yr 3 mth

(4yr 3mth Jan 2010)
Jared: mummy, why you send me to drama class? You think I will like it but I don't like!
daddy* burst into laughter*

(4yr 4mth Feb 7 2010)- I didn't know I have to face this situation so soon!
Jared: Yixuan love me you know, mummy. She told me when we at the swing
Mummy: How about you ? do you love yixuan?
Jared: I love her, but she run away.
Mummy: How about anabel, do you love anabel?
Jared: I never talk to anabel.

p/s during our dec09 jap trip, Jared mentioned yixuan quite frequently especially after Kaylen took bath, he always burst into laughter saying Kaylen's hair look like Yixuan.
Then he also asked me, Mummy, how come Yixuan never come to our house?

Interesting Conversation with Jared @ 4yr 2mth

Jared: I'm not scared of mummy angry,but I'm scared of daddy angry...I'm a poor boy
Me: What happen daddy? What did you do to him?!

This boy is getting such a handful nowadays..he likes to bring his loud mouth everywhere, lazy, and tired & sleepy immediately when do school work times.

The moment you say finish studying, his eyes would be brighten up and jumping around everywhere..no longer sleepy.

He had the best holiday ever for the Dec09 holiday..we were busy shopping, ah yi's wedding, the japan trip..and more shopping..finally he did not learn anything during the hol.

Luckily we are back in tune ever since the school started, we got him to start writing again...(no choice, this boy had forgotten all the alphabets!), some colouring, or tracing..all back to square..haiz..

This yr, school has also started to let them bring homework every fri. Jared is never eager to get them done..so we have to balance between outdoors trip vs homework..quite sian..but that's life hehe!

Kaylen is 16month old

The glutton gal
At 16 mth old, she already eat all sort of our food!...When she refuses porridge, and if offered koko's food..she sure to open mouth big big.
She can take 2-3 fries when eating together with us. Jared would take none though.
I don't remember Jared taking so much of forbidden stuff at her age..in fact Jared only started to take outside food after 3 yrs old. But the PD said at this age, it's ok to give her food with seasoning, ketchup, soya sauce..all are ok. PD commented she was light weight 9.2kg at 16mth, so must let her eat more solid.

Teeth
still 6. 4 on top, and 2 on lower deck....But when she bite koko, she would bite so hard that the 6 teeth is clearly visible on Jared's hand. Jared on the other hand, stupid like to play biting with meimei..though he had more teeth but he wont bite all the way..
Dancing
She loves dancing a lot, now she would stand up, wave her hand, bend the legs
Talking
A lot more words..
Brown bear is her fav book. So she knew some words inside.
purple cat
brown bear
duck
frog
She can call almost everyone at home now, mummy, daddy, gong, po, gong gong, mah mah, ah yi, ko ko, be4 be4(daddy's bro), nani(neighbour)

Pee & Poo
Starting to tell us when she need pee...She would come whisper pee pee..